With Summer quickly approaching, it’s no secret that many of us are trying to figure out how we want to spend it. Summer is meant to be a time to take a break and prepare for the next school year, but it’s also a great time to gain job experience, volunteer, and spend time doing what you love. If you’re looking forward to having some time off, but you’re not exactly sure how you want to spend it, keep reading!

Gain Job Experience

This is a pretty big one. No matter what your major is, gaining job experience is always beneficial for your future career. If you’re hoping to have a career in the medical field, you could apply for a job at a local hospital or clinic. If you’re an Art major, try to get an internship at a place like the Mississippi Museum of Art. Whatever your major or your interests are, it’s always a good idea to get some job/internship experience that will assist you in your future career. Not only will this experience look great on a future application, it will also help you to be sure that you actually enjoy the field you are hoping to go into – and you can hopefully make some money while doing it!

There are also many opportunities for college students in particular to be camp counselors! We have various connections here at MC with camps such as Pine Cove, Lake Forest Ranch, and WinShape. I know several people who are planning to be camp counselors at these camps this summer and they are so excited. If you’re not interested in being a camp counselor, there are many other opportunities available at camps such as being a videographer, a worship musician, an administrative assistant, or working in the healthcare center. This is a great way to gain job experience, earn money, and make a difference in the lives of others.

Volunteer

Volunteering has many benefits to both you and those you are serving. Similar to gaining job experience, volunteering in a place closely related to what you want to do will help you to see whether or not you actually enjoy the type of work related to your major/future career. There are many places to volunteer around the Jackson area (and everywhere else) such as at animal services, children’s camps, churches, and hospitals. Volunteer Mississippi is a great recourse to use when looking for volunteer opportunities and you can find ithere.

Another great way to volunteer is by going on a mission trip through your church or through an organization. This is especially great if you love missions and if you’re interested in doing cross-cultural work in the future.

Spend Time Doing What You Love

As important as it is to gain job experience, it’s also important to spend time doing the things that bring you the most joy. Overseas mission work is my favorite thing to do during the summer. I want to be a medical missionary, so I try to spend my summer geared towards missions and anything related to the medical field. This summer, I’m planning on doing an internship in Central America for two months. I’ve never been more excited for a summer break.

If you love doing missions work, I encourage you to go online and check out various websites to see if there’s any internship opportunities you could participate in this summer. Maybe missions isn’t really your thing and you just love to travel – if that’s the case, plan a trip with your friends! Backpacking in Europe is a big dream for some people, but you could also go on smaller road trips with your friends to save money and explore places in the States you haven’t managed to see yet.

If you’re able to, I also want to encourage you to spend time with your family. Being away at college for nine months out of the year helped me realize how important family is, so be sure to spend time with them to try and make up for all the lost time throughout the school year.

Overall, use this summer to do the things you never have time for during the school year. Get a job related to what you want to do in the future, apply for an internship, go be a camp counselor, spend time volunteering, travel, do missions – there are so many ways for this to be your best summer yet. Instead of just wasting the summer away, make the most of it – make it a productive summer that you’ll be proud of when we come back to school in the Fall.